


Redirection

by miss_aligned



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Angst, F/M, Mass Effect 3, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-24 13:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7509991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_aligned/pseuds/miss_aligned
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Thanks to <a href="http://miss-aligned.tumblr.com/post/147406680389/yo-i-have-had-a-real-downer-day-and-your-fanfics">an anonymous person</a> for the prompt!)</p>
<p>When Shepard is on the verge to make a horrible decision, Kaidan is forced to make her turn back and be reasonable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Redirection

“Shepard?” The name was barely a whisper on his lips. He awkwardly hunched, clutching his side, wondering what she was thinking when she abruptly turned around. He thought they were retreating, leaving a collapsing world behind them. She’d just fallen through a building nearly to her death, after all. It had been more than enough excitement for one day.

Liara looked similarly torn, though she moved slowly toward the shuttle regardless. Shock, despair, and defeat were written in her expression and body language. She clearly had no intention of watching this carnage any longer.

“Shepard,” Kaidan said again, this time with a little more force. He’d worked with her long enough to know when she was considering doing something dangerous. There was certainly something different about it this time, however. Desperation and anger appeared to replace the confident glint in her eye. She looked like she wanted revenge, and with Kai Leng already gone and reapers in every direction, there was no way she would achieve it. She was going to get herself killed. “We need to get back to the shuttle. There’s nothing we can do here.”

She took another few steps, staring out across the horizon of Thessia laid out in front of them, smoldering for miles and peppered with the looming silhouettes of reapers steadily pounding across the ground. She pulled her rifle off of her back and prepared to take aim for the nearest reaper, which was currently blasting a platoon of asari commandos into oblivion. Cries for aid hissed and crackled over the comms, but no one stood a chance.

There was no doubt, she was evaluating, calculating. She surveyed the scene with an eye for taking advantage of anything that she could. He had little doubt that she could take down a reaper. He’d witnessed the unlikely, impressive, unfathomable act with his own eyes, in fact. She had the knowledge and experience of an entire ancient race tucked away in her mind, even. Despite her training, experience, and knowledge, attacking was only going to lead to more defeat right now.

“Shepard. We’re leaving.” Kaidan straightened, turning toward the commander fully. Liara had stopped her forward progress, but didn’t turn around. The scene beyond the crumbling walls of the temple was likely just too much for her to bear right then.

No words or explanation escaped the commander as she continued to move, her momentum increasing with each step. Kaidan’s heart jumped into his throat as he watched her prepare herself for a suicide run at one of likely hundreds of reapers that were swarming the asari homeworld. The defeat had been so sound, so quick, so jarring, that Shepard was obviously unable to accept it.

\-----

“I have a special request of you, Major,” Anderson’s flickering image said as it folded its hands behind its back.

“Yes, sir,” Kaidan respectfully answered, straightening with all of the trained rigidity of a proper soldier.

“At ease. Lord knows we all need to relax a little where we can,” Anderson joked, his smirk visible even with the poor connection.

The Major settled into a similar stance to the Admiral, curious to know what additional tasks he was going to have to take on, as though saving galaxy wasn’t quite enough.

“I want you to look after Shepard. I know you will anyway, but I have a feeling that job is going to be more of a challenge as this war progresses. She’s been fighting it for years already, you and I both know that. We’re taking a shot in the dark with this entire Crucible business, and things are getting worse by the minute.”

Kaidan merely nodded, knowing it was true, but somewhat surprised to hear it all laid out so... honestly. He wondered about it himself as he watched Shepard take on the galaxy each and every day. He’d even begun to suspect that he might be too wrapped up with her and with this mess to truly be able think rationally under pressure, and had quietly asked Garrus to help him with the task, to make the right call in case either of them couldn’t.

“Don’t let her throw her life away. We all know she has a tendency to push the envelope and somehow survive, but we can’t afford to lose her. If we lose Shepard, then we lose Earth, and possibly this entire initiative. Keep her safe, even if you have to piss her off to do it.”

A low chuckle escaped the Major as he listened. Pissing off Shepard, as he so eloquently put it, was not something many people managed to do and continue living. He understood the importance and sentiment, however. Kaidan nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll do my best.”

“Probably your toughest assignment yet,” Anderson responded with a laugh of his own. “Good luck, Major.”

\-----  
Anderson’s words echoed in his ears, watching with horror as Shepard began to run toward certain destruction in the aftermath of a crushing defeat on Thessia. Even if she managed to take down that particular reaper, there were countless more moving in to replace it. She’d be obliterated. He knew it. She knew it.

His body swirled with blue as he threw an arm forward, swiftly rooting her to the ground with the use of his biotics. A cringe followed, having effectively attacked her, but he reminded himself that this was to save her life. He had no choice.

Moving up behind and around her, concentrating on keeping her safely in place, Kaidan was quick to notice the tension in her shoulders, the way she clenched her jaw, and the fire in her eyes. Her ire focused directly on him as he stepped into her line of vision, and for a moment, he hated himself for doing this to her. Steeling his nerves, he addressed her in a manner that left no room for discussion. For her own good, he reminded himself. “We’re leaving. Now.”

He released his hold and she stared with white-hot rage bubbling just under the surface. The way her grip tightened on the gun she held at her side hinted at the fact that she might have been considering pushing past him to keep fighting.

“If we stay here, we’re all going to die and the Normandy’s going down with us. You know that, Shepard. We’re retreating and regrouping. We can’t help any of these people right now. Let’s go. That’s an order.”

She said nothing. She didn’t move a muscle. Her entire body was tensed and ready to spring. She stared past him, fury and agony apparent in her eyes as the explosions and screams echoed off of what remained of the temple’s walls. He ached for the asari, for Liara, for Shepard, for all of them being thrust into this awful situation with only one logical way out… retreat.

At last, she locked eyes with him. For a fleeting moment, it felt like she was staring through him, but she blinked herself back to reality. Turning abruptly on her heel, she stalked back in the direction of Liara and the shuttle. Kaidan sighed heavily, knowing she was upset, but hoping that she’d understand.

One last glance over his shoulder reaffirmed his choice, painful as it was. The temple groaned and creaked as the walls began to buckle. Reapers blasted in all directions. The asari fled. He wondered, as he watched a horrified people whose lives should have stretched on for hundreds of years, if this was how it must have looked when the protheans were wiped out. He supposed it was. Only Shepard would have been able to answer that question now. Perhaps that was why the scene struck such a chord with her and caused her to blank in regards to her own safety.

Kaidan shook his head as he followed his squadmates onto the shuttle. His toughest assignment, indeed.


End file.
